Regional Parliamentary Initiative
As countries of the Western Balkans emerge from conflict and transition to democracy, the role of their parliaments assumes greater importance. Parliaments are the primary institutions representing the electorate's interests, passing laws that address society's needs and overseeing the work of governing institutions. Accordingly, parliaments in the region must strengthen their legislative, representative, oversight, budgetary and administrative capacities as they strive for integration in the European Union. After several years of growth and development, they have much to learn from each other's experiences, as well as from parliaments in neighboring countries to the north that have recently joined the EU.
NDI's Democracy Support Program
In October 2008, NDI launched a multi-year Legislative Strengthening Initiative with funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) to increase collaboration among the parliaments of Western and Central Europe and the Western Balkans through cross-border and regional exchanges. Building on long term legislative strengthening programs in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, this program aims to enhance the transparency and efficiency of the legislative process and to strengthen the representative and oversight capacities of parliaments in the Western Balkans.
In its first phase, through 2009, NDI is organizing regional exchanges on three development areas common to each legislature: parliamentary budgeting, parliamentary staff structure and development, and legislative policy research.
In January, NDI hosted a regional seminar for representatives of Western Balkan countries, with members of parliament and parliamentary staff from the Czech and Slovak Republics. The sessions focused on developing effective budget and finance committees, an independent budget and internal and external budget controls. NDI continued to work with participants following the seminar to help them disseminate lessons learned to their peers in parliament, and to apply best practices to their budget development and oversight processes.
A similar seminar is planned in Macedonia on parliamentary staffing, which will be followed by consultations and exchanges on legislative policy research.
Contact Information
For more information about these programs, use our contact form or contact:
Washington, D.C.
Kim Schneider, Program Assistant
(202) 728-5415
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